Chief Operating Officer CV example

Your CV needs to reflect the breadth of your duties as a Chief Operating Officer. Recruiters and boards aren’t looking for someone who just kept things ticking; they want to see evidence that you’ve really led. Your CV must present you as a strategic operator who delivers stability in complexity and growth without chaos.

This guide will walk you through writing your CV that reflects your experience, builds trust with senior stakeholders, and communicates your ability to take businesses from where they are to where they need to be.

A Chief Operating Officer’s CV should be as well-run as the operations they oversee. You’re applying for one of the most senior roles in a company, and your CV needs to show that you understand structure and control. Every detail counts – and the structure you use will say as much about you as the words on the page.

Here’s the layout to follow:

• Name and contact details – Start with your name and contact details – make it simple for recruiters to reach you. Including a photo is a personal choice.
• Profile – Use this section to summarise your experience, strengths, and what makes you a standout candidate.
• Core skills – Outline your primary competencies to give recruiters a snapshot of your strengths.
• Work experience – Walk through your professional experience, beginning with your latest position and moving backwards.
• Education – Outline your education and certifications, focusing on those most relevant to the role.
• Additional info – This section is optional, but it’s a good place for hobbies and interests that complement your CV.
  

Your formatting should reflect executive professionalism. Use a clear layout with bold section headings, and break down text using bullet points to aid readability. Stick to a clean, authoritative font and make sure there’s enough white space to keep the page breathable. Ideally, the CV length should stay within two pages – long enough to show impact, concise enough to hold attention. Don’t crowd it; lead with clarity, just as you would in a board meeting.

Your CV profile section is more than an introduction – it’s your positioning statement as an executive leader. This is where you communicate what kind of COO you are, the scale and scope of what you’ve led, and the business value you deliver. 

Avoid the mistake of generic summaries and make this a clear reflection of your leadership style and strategic impact: you’ve only got a few lines to convince recruiters of your value.

Here are some tips on what to put in your CV profile:

• Where you worked – Explain the types of companies you’ve led operations for, including their size, sector, and stage of growth.
• Your top qualifications – Mention relevant executive-level credentials, such as your degrees, MBA, or professional certifications.
• Essential skills – Describe your operational strengths, such as strategic planning, change management, cost optimisation, or scaling processes.
• Teams or functions led – State the departments, teams, or global functions you’ve overseen and how you integrated them under one vision.
• Value delivered – Focus on outcomes – such as improved EBITDA, organisational restructuring, international expansion, or major efficiency gains.
  

For a role at this level, your CV skills need to speak directly to boardroom needs. This section should reflect your operational maturity and strategic expertise without becoming too granular. Rather than listing generic soft skills or vague attributes, include the abilities that align with what CEOs and boards look for in a second-in-command.

Use the job specification as your guide – and reflect the capabilities that show you can stabilise operations and build scalable business infrastructure across teams and regions.

As a Chief Operating Officer, your work experience is the heart of your CV. It should show how you’ve created meaningful operational improvements, built and led high-performing teams, and turned strategic goals into working realities. Recruiters will want to see both the complexity of your remit and the concrete results you’ve delivered.

List your most recent roles first and work backwards. Start each entry with a short summary of your role and its context, followed by bullet points that describe your key responsibilities and notable achievements. Focus on what you improved or delivered – and use metrics wherever possible to anchor your value.

• Outline – Summarise the organisation, the size or scope of operations, and your leadership remit – including teams, budgets, or business units under your control.
• Responsibilities – Use power words like “spearheaded” and “realigned.” For example: “spearheaded global supply chain transformation across three regions” or “realigned operational processes post-acquisition to integrate teams and reduce costs.”
• Achievements – Back up your leadership with measurable impact: revenue growth, margin improvement, cultural turnaround, reduced turnover, or successful change programmes.

While experience carries the most weight at this level, your education section still needs to reflect your academic foundation and any executive training you’ve undertaken. Lead with your most senior qualification – such as an MBA or degree – and include the name of the institution and completion date.

If you’ve completed other leadership development programmes or certifications (such as Lean Six Sigma, CMI, or INSEAD short courses), you can include those too – especially if they align with the operational nature of the role.